A judge has ordered a convicted drugs courier to pay almost £10,000 - nearly a decade after the crime.

Stephen Hall was jailed in 2010 after being caught with £20,000 of drugs in the boot of a car.

Hall and his partner at the time were transporting skunk cannabis and amphetamine from the North West into Torbay when they were stopped by police just outside Newton Abbot.

He returned to court this week to argue that thousands of pounds he received in compensation for a work-related incident at HMP Channings Wood should not be taken from him under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

HMP Channings Wood

He said he needed the money to pay for private medical treatment to treat his Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Judge David Evans rejected his argument and ordered him to pay £9,587.

He was told that Hall served two of the four years he was sentenced to in 2010 for possession of almost 3kg of cannabis with intent to supply, and a number of other drug offences.

The conviction was described at the time as 'an organised drug run' that ended when police stopped a Mercedes he was driving on the A380 towards Torquay near Newton Abbot.

After he was released from prison a confiscation hearing decided Hall had benefited to the tune of £20,969 from his crimes but only had £1 in his account.

Stephen Hall in 2010

Since then he has received £21,000 in compensation after sustaining an injury while working in prison.

Fresh investigations revealed he now has £9,586 available.

Prosecutor Ms Anita Noerr said the defendant, who claims employment support and disability living allowance, had also recently been on holidays to Amsterdam and Iceland and had three flourishing bank accounts which he seldom withdrew cash from.